Skills/Fencing

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Fencing is the skill of fighting with piercing weapons: daggers, the kryss, spears and forks. Fencing weapons are some of the fastest in the game, and they're the ones that carry poison best. Two-handed spears can also pin a target in place for a moment with a well-aimed thrust.

This page explains how fencing works, which weapons use the skill, their special moves, and how to train to Grandmaster.

At a glance

Skill category	Combat
Weapons	Daggers, the kryss, spears and forks (see Weapons)
Works with	Tactics and Anatomy for damage, Poisoning for poisoned weapons, Parrying for defense, Healing to stay alive
Special moves	Two per weapon, at 70 and 90 skill
Skill cap	100 (Grandmaster), raised up to 120 with Fencing power scrolls
Stats it can raise	Dexterity and Strength
Starting gear	Choosing Fencing as a starting skill gives you a kryss.

How to fight

Equip a fencing weapon from the table below. You need enough Strength to wield it. The spear, short spear and pitchfork take both hands.
Switch to war mode (Tab by default, or the war/peace button on your paperdoll).
Double-click your target to attack. You'll keep swinging automatically as long as you stay next to them.

Hitting

Every swing rolls to hit. Your chance depends on your skill with the weapon you're holding against the defender's skill with the weapon they're holding (Wrestling if they're unarmed):

Hit chance = (your skill + 50) ÷ ((their skill + 50) × 2)

So two fighters with equal skill hit each other 50% of the time. Here's how it works out:

Your weapon skill	Defender's skill 0	50	80	100	120
50	100%	50%	38%	33%	29%
80	100%	65%	50%	43%	38%
100	100%	75%	58%	50%	44%
120	100%	85%	65%	57%	50%

Magic weapons with an accuracy bonus add to your skill while you hold them: +5 (accurate), +10 (surpassingly), +15 (eminently), +20 (exceedingly) or +25 (supremely). That bonus counts toward both hitting and the 70/90 needed for special moves.

Damage

When you hit, the game rolls the weapon's damage range and then adjusts it:

Tactics is the big one: −50% at 0 Tactics, no change at 50, +50% at 100.
Strength adds +1% for every 5 points.
Anatomy adds +1% for every 5 points, plus an extra +10% at 100.
Exceptional weapons deal +20% and low quality ones −20%.
Magic weapons add flat damage before all of that: ruin +1, might +3, force +5, power +7, vanquishing +9.
Slayer weapons deal double damage to the creatures they slay.
A worn-out weapon hits softer. Damage scales down as the weapon's durability drops, to half at its last point.
Damage against players (and damage dealt by creatures) is halved.
The target's armor then absorbs part of the hit, depending on where it lands (body 35%, legs 22%, head 15%, arms 14%, hands 7%, neck 7%). Every hit deals at least 1 damage.

Swing speed

Each weapon has a speed rating. The higher it is, the faster you swing. Your current stamina matters too: more stamina means faster swings, and a winded fighter slows down. The tables below show seconds per swing with 100 stamina.

Weapons

All of these use Fencing. Click a column heading to sort.

Weapon	Type	Hands	Strength needed	Damage	Speed	Seconds per swing*	Primary move (70)	Secondary move (90)	Weight	Weaponsmith price
Dagger	Knife	One	1	3–15	55	1.36	Infectious Strike	Shadow Strike	1 stones	about 21 gold
Kryss	Blade	One	10	3–28	53	1.42	Armor Ignore	Infectious Strike	2 stones	about 32 gold
Short spear	Spear or fork	Two	15	4–32	50	1.50	Shadow Strike	Mortal Strike	4 stones	about 23 gold
Spear	Spear or fork	Two	30	2–36	46	1.63	Armor Ignore	Paralyzing Blow	7 stones	about 31 gold
War fork	Spear or fork	One	35	4–32	45	1.67	Bleed Attack	Disarm	9 stones	about 32 gold
Pitchfork	Spear or fork	Two	15	4–16	45	1.67	Bleed Attack	Dismount	11 stones	about 19 gold

* Seconds per swing with 100 stamina. The formula is 15000 ÷ ((stamina + 100) × speed), so a tired fighter swings more slowly.

Special moves

Every weapon knows two special moves: a primary move you can use from 70 skill in that weapon's fighting skill, and a secondary move from 90. To use one:

Open your combat book (the Open › Combat Book macro), or set up the Primary Ability and Secondary Ability macros. You can drag the move icons out of the book onto your screen.
Click the move to ready it. It stays ready until your next hit lands.
When that hit lands, the move goes off and its mana is used up. If you miss, the move stays ready and no mana is spent.

Some things to know:

Mana cost drops with experience. Each move has a base cost, but if your Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting, Fencing, Archery, Parrying, Lumberjacking, Stealth and Poisoning add up to 200 or more, every move costs 5 less mana; at 300 or more it costs 10 less.
Don't chain them too fast. Using another special move within 3 seconds of your last one costs double mana.
If you don't have the skill: "You need 70 weapon skill to perform that attack" (or 90). If you're short on mana: "You need 30 mana to perform that attack".

Move	Base mana	What it does	Weapons
Armor Ignore	30	A precise strike for 90% of normal damage. Armor still absorbs part of the blow as usual.	Primary: Kryss, Spear
Bleed Attack	30	The target bleeds for 10 seconds, taking damage every 2 seconds: 15 to 30 in total against players, 30 to 60 against creatures. A bandage stops the bleeding. Some creatures, and anyone in lich or wraith form, can't bleed.	Primary: War fork, Pitchfork
Disarm	20	Knocks the target's weapon into their backpack, and they can't re-equip a weapon for 5 seconds.	Secondary: War fork
Dismount	20	Knocks a mounted target off their mount, and they can't remount for 10 seconds. If you're on foot they also take 15 to 25 damage. You must be on foot to use it, and you can't mount up yourself for 10 seconds afterwards.	Secondary: Pitchfork
Infectious Strike	15	Uses one dose of the poison on your weapon to poison the target. Your Poisoning skill decides how strong a poison you can deliver and gives a chance to raise it by one level.	Primary: Dagger Secondary: Kryss
Mortal Strike	30	Mortally wounds the target: they can't be healed by bandages, healing spells or heal potions for 6 seconds (players) or 12 seconds (creatures).	Secondary: Short spear
Paralyzing Blow	30	Freezes the target in place for 3 seconds (players) or 6 seconds (creatures). They can't be paralyzed this way again for 8 seconds after it wears off.	Secondary: Spear
Shadow Strike	20	Deals 125% damage and you instantly hide. Needs 80 Stealth.	Primary: Short spear Secondary: Dagger

Spear thrusts

The two-handed spears (spear, short spear and pitchfork) can land a paralyzing thrust on their own, with no mana and no readying:

Each hit has an Anatomy ÷ 4 percent chance (25% at 100 Anatomy). There's no minimum Anatomy.
The target is frozen in place for 2 seconds: "You have been hit by a paralyzing blow!"

Poisoned weapons

Every fencing weapon can carry poison applied with the Poisoning skill. While the weapon has poison charges, every hit uses up one charge and has a 50% chance to poison the target. A poisoned weapon is also what you need for the Infectious Strike move (see Special moves for which weapons know it).

Training Fencing

Every swing can raise Fencing, whether it hits or misses. The game checks for a gain each time you swing at something.
Below 10.0 you gain on every attempt, sometimes several tenths at once. Above that, each attempt has a chance to gain 0.1.
The harder the attempt is for your skill level, the better your chance to gain. Your chance also drops as you get closer to your Fencing cap and to your total skill cap of 700.
If you've set Fencing to go down (the arrow in your skills list), gains elsewhere can lower it to make room under your total cap. Lock skills you want to keep.
Reaching 100.0 adds Fencing to the Skills Mastered count on your achievements.
Fighting also trains Tactics and Anatomy on every hit, so they climb alongside Fencing.
Pick opponents that are a fair match. The less certain your hit, the better your chance to gain. If you're guaranteed to hit (your skill + 50 is at least double the defender's skill + 50, such as 50 skill against a defender with none), that swing teaches you nothing.
Thief guildmasters, warrior guildmasters, blacksmiths and iron workers will train you for gold: up to a third of their own skill, at most 42.0, for 1 gold per 0.1 points. Ask them (or use their context menu) to train the skill, then drop the gold on them.

Stats: each successful use has about a 1% chance to raise Strength and about a 2% chance to raise Dexterity by 1 point. Each stat can rise at most once every 10 minutes, and only if it's set to rise.

Suggested path

Fencing	Where to train
0 to 25	Practice on a training dummy. Double-click it with your weapon in hand. Carpenters can build them. It stops teaching you at 25.0.
25 to 50	Weak creatures that hit back softly: Giant Rat, Mongbat, Skeleton, Zombie, Headless One, Ratman.
50 to 70	Tougher camps: Orc, Lizardman, Gargoyle, Ettin.
70 to 90	Bigger targets with lots of health: Troll, Ogre, Earth Elemental. Your primary move opens up at 70.
90 to 100	Strong creatures you can still win against, such as Ogre Lord, Lich, Wyvern. Your secondary move opens up at 90.

Power scrolls

Power scroll

Fencing tops out at 100.0 unless you use a Fencing power scroll. There are three kinds: exalted (110), mythical (115) and legendary (120). Double-click one to raise your Fencing cap to that number: "You feel a surge of magic as the scroll enhances your Fencing!"

Fencing power scrolls come from champion bosses: Barracoon, Lord Oaks, Mephitis, Neira, Rikktor, Semidar and Silvani. Each champion boss leaves 6 power scrolls in random fighting, magic, bard and animal skills, handed out among the players who helped kill it. Each scroll is a 110 (60%), 115 (35%) or 120 (5%).
A scroll only works if it's higher than your current cap. Otherwise: "Your Fencing is too high for this power scroll."
Champion power scrolls are cursed: they always drop when you die, even from a blessed container. Use them or bank them quickly.
Raising the cap doesn't raise your skill. You still have to train the extra points.

Messages you'll see

Message	What it means
You need 70 weapon skill to perform that attack	You don't have enough skill for that special move yet (70 for primary, 90 for secondary).
You need 30 mana to perform that attack	Not enough mana for the move you readied.
You deliver a paralyzing blow!	Your spear thrust (or Paralyzing Blow move) froze the target.
The attack has temporarily paralyzed you!	Someone used the Paralyzing Blow move on you.
You have been hit by a paralyzing blow!	A spear thrust froze you for 2 seconds.
Your weapon must have a dose of poison to perform an infectious strike!	Poison your weapon first.
Your skill in this weapon cannot improve any further by simply practicing with a dummy.	You've reached 25.0. Time to fight real opponents.
You feel a surge of magic as the scroll enhances your ~skill~!	A power scroll raised your skill cap.

Tips

Speed wins. The dagger and kryss swing very quickly, which means more chances for poison, special moves and gains.
Spears for power. The spear has the biggest damage range of the fencing weapons and can freeze a target, but it takes both hands.
Tactics is not optional. At 0 Tactics you deal half damage. Train it alongside Fencing.
Pair it with Poisoning. A fencer with Poisoning can keep a target poisoned for most of a fight.
Carry bandages. Healing is the classic partner for any warrior.